July 5th

Looking at the wind and wave forecast the night before we decided that if we wanted to head north to Tofino that today was the best day for doing so as the days after this had strong northerly winds predicted. We did not want to repeat the mistake of our difficult first crossing!! In preparation I dosed Jacintha up with motion sickness medication. I used some pressure point bands that I had bought and Jim wanted to tough it out! We wanted to try the Pacific Ocean again!

As we headed down Loundoun Channel the wind started to whip up from the north and the waves started to get larger. We turned into Newcombe channel and then into Carolina channel passing many fishing boats in that area. It got choppy there but once we cleared the channel and were out into Pacific Ocean the swells settled down to an easy rhythm and the wind died down.

We motored our way there. It was sunny so we had a pleasant time sitting in the cockpit and enjoying the sun. We saw lots of whales but couldn’t tell what kind they were. Jim slowed the boat down and put out the trolling line. We caught two coho salmon that day and my afternoon was spent filleting the fish as we headed up the coast! This time we froze one salmon and kept the other to eat.

The Big One

br />
Our fishy cockpit!!!

We entered the rocky coast surrounding Tofino while I was still below. It wasn’t windy, but there was a lot of current in Duffin Passage where Tofino abuts, and getting into the dock was tricky. I had to hang off the side of the boat while Jim motored in and tie the dock lines off while avoiding three large pylons that were sticking out of the dock which could have damaged our paint! We handled it like pros!

The harbor master was a nice guy with a dog named Barney. He lived on the last finger of the wharf. We checked in, got rid of our garbage and took a walk into town.

Light at Lennard Island<